Heretofore textile materials have been treated with compositions containing a hydroxyl terminated organopolysiloxane, a crosslinking agent and a catalyst to impart a soft, silky, durable hand thereto. (See. U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,876,459 to Burrill and 3,770,489 to Richardson). Although treatment with these organopolysiloxanes has been very effective for the intended purpose, it has also imparted certain undesirable properties to the treated materials. For example, textile materials treated with organopolysiloxanes tend to soil more readily. Moreover, organopolysiloxanes have a tendency to impart hydrophobic properties to textile materials treated therewith, which in turn decreases the comfort of the material. Furthermore, organopolysiloxanes are generally applied to textile materials in the form of emulsions and these emulsions have a tendency to separate during application, thereby resulting in a non-uniform coating. When these coated textile materials are subjected to further treatment, such as dyeing or printing, the uneven distribution of organopolysiloxanes on the surface of the textile materials interferes with the print and dye quality of the material. Another disadvantage of organopolysiloxanes is that they generally require more than one component, and once the components have been mixed, the resultant composition is of limited stability.
Silicon containing materials which have been used to impart soil-repellent and soil-release properties to textile materials are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,716,517 and 3,716,518 to Pittman et al. These silicon containing materials are prepared by copolymerizing at least one monomer capable of imparting oleophobic properties with at least one monomer capable of imparting hydrophilic properties. The oleophobic monomer is a silane which contains a terminal perfluoroalkyl group of from 3 to 18 perfluorinated carbon atoms. The hydrophilic monomer is a silane which contains two or more alkylene oxide groups in which the alkylene groups contain from 2 to 6 carbon atoms. These hydrophilic monomers are prepared by converting a monoetherified polyalkyleneoxy glycol to the corresponding allyl ether by reacting it with allyl bromide in the presence of a base and thereafter reacting the intermediate reaction product with a silane containing hydrogen in the presence of a platinum catalyst. Where it is desired to produce monomers containing an ester linkage, the monoetherified polyethyleneoxy glycol is esterified with acryloyl chloride and then a hydrogen containing silane and platinum catalyst is added to the resultant intermediate.
In preparing the hydrophilic monomers described above, one essential ingredient is terminally unsaturated polyethers which are not readily available in commercial quantities. These terminally unsaturated polyethers may be prepared by reacting monoetherified polyalkyleneoxy glycols with allyl chloride. Furthermore, the silicon compounds described by Pittman et al, contain an ester group, whereas the silylated polyethers of the present invention contain diester linkages.
Therefore, one of the advantages of this invention is that the silylated polyethers of this invention use materials which are readily available such as polyoxyalkylene glycols and haloalkylalkoxysilanes. Another advantage of the silylated polyethers of this invention is that these silylated polyethers will crosslink to form hydrophilic coatings on textile materials treated therewith. The hydrophilic property improves the comfort of textile materials by wicking away body perspiration. Furthermore, the silylated polyethers of this invention impart softness to textile materials treated therewith which offset the harsh hard imparted to textile materials treated with aminoplast resins. Also, it has been found that the silylated polyethers of this invention will extend the aminoplast resins and in certain applications may replace the aminoplast resins.
Therefore, it is an object of this invention to provide silylated polyethers. Another object of this invention is to provide silylated polyethers which may be applied to textile materials to impart a soft silkyl hand and resistance to soil redeposition. Still another object of this invention is to provide silylated polyethers which may be applied to textile materials to impart hydrophilic properties thereto. A further object of this invention is to provide silylated polyethers which are water soluble and will not separate before and/or during application to textile materials. A still further object of this invention is to provide a single component, water soluble, stable silicon containing composition for treating textile materials.